Just Noodling Around
Kitchen improv with a classic egg noodle recipe
When our friend Jeanne Murphy visited Wyoming last month, she was delighted to participate in several egg noodle testing projects. She recalled her first exposure to egg noodles as a side dish when she was at the Thanksgiving table of then-boyfriend Ted Conklin, and his deeply-rooted Central Pa family. “We had all the traditional fixin’s that I knew from my own family but also a big bowl of homemade noodles that were so good I wanted to cry. That was my first experience with egg noodles and it made a lasting impression. I love egg noodles!”
Where is Jeanne now, so I could try other recipes on her? We have had many noodles since I signed on with Grandma’s Frozen Egg Noodles in September. (More about the origin story in this post from October). Kirk and Iris are happy with the experiments, Iris always asking for more “noo noos.” I’ve learned they are extremely versatile and have branched out from simply adding them to the chicken broth perpetually simmering on my stove during the cold season.
My sister Mary, who remembered a Stouffer dish called Noodles Romanoff, inspired my latest experiment. Since our mother worked at Stouffer’s, we offspring did too, as soon as we were old enough to get our working papers. At fourteen, I started in the kitchen with the simple tasks--making Melba Toast and peeling shrimp. My brother started the next year in the dish room. Every holiday was spent at the restaurant, my Dad bringing in my little sisters for Thanksgiving dinner and Mother’s Day until they too were old enough to work. Fine dining was the fabric of our life.
Stouffer’s was old-fashioned in the 60’s. Everything was made from scratch—main dishes, vegetables, salads, breads, desserts- when we all worked there. The menu changed each day on a 10-day cycle, and those changed seasonally. I remember Noodles Romanoff as part of the winter cycle, a hearty dish rich with sour cream. It has been called a “heart attack on a plate” by those who are calorie and fat-phobic. But occasionally, it’s ok to indulge, and Thanksgiving Dinner is one event that merits an upgrade and a walk down your culinary Memory Lane. What resonates?
Noodles Romanoff originated at Romanoff’s restaurant in Los Angeles in the 1950s and was wildly popular with the celebrity crowd, the trend-setters. When Romanoff’s closed in 1962, Noodles Romanoff was served at Stouffer’s Top of the Rock restaurant in Chicago until that restaurant closed in 1976. After that, the popular noodle dish became a mainstay of Stouffer’s frozen food line until it was discontinued in the early 2000s.
There were several shelf-stable versions of Noodles Romanoff, one by Betty Crocker, one by Rice-a Roni, and another by Kraft, that were popular in the 1960s but had disappeared by the late 1970s. However, copycat versions of the recipe abound online.
And here is one for you! Just in time to add another side to your Thanksgiving table.
Noodles Romanoff
Category
Winter Comfort Food
Cuisine
Russian
°°
Servings
6
Prep Time
5 minutes for sauce, 15 minutes to cook the noodles
Cook Time
30 minutes
Ingredients
11 ounces Grandma’s Frozen Egg Noodles
4 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
16 ounces sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
¼ teaspoon paprika
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Cook the noodles according to package directions until al dente as they will cook some more in the oven.
3. While the noodles cook, prepare your mise en place with the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, salt, pepper, and garlic.
4. Place ½ cup of the Parmesan in a small bowl and add the paprika to it and mix to infuse the cheese with a soft red hue. Keep the other ½ cup of Parmesan in reserve to add to the noodle pot with the creamy ingredients.
5. When the egg noodles are finished cooking, drain them and reserve ½ cup of cooking water. Put the egg noodles back in the hot pot they cooked in and add the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, garlic, salt and pepper, and the ½ cup of reserved Parmesan cheese. Add the ½ cup of pasta water to aid in melting it all to a smooth mass.
6. Spray or butter a baking dish (8x8) or a small ceramic casserole and pour in the creamy noodles. Smooth the top and sprinkle on the ½ cup of Parmesan mixed with the paprika.
7. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes until hot and bubbly and serve.
Egg noodles and Swiss steak sounds delicious!
The Wine Guy says a dry Italian white--Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio or any Italian red--Chianti or Chianti Reserve.